"Unfollowed"
Something very interesting happened last week.
I checked my Instagram account in the morning and there was a direct message from a long time follower. All it said was "unfollowed". No explanation, no reason given, nothing. I didn't ask either, I told him "Good luck" and that was the end of it. Bear in mind, this was a follower with whom I had spoken multiple times via DM's before as he had come to me for advice on multiple occasions. So it was very surprising when I got his message.
At first, I started thinking "what is it that I said that bothered him so much that he unfollowed me and had to let me know about it?" You see, one of my flaws is that I'm sometimes too agreeable. I like to be liked. And so, I didn't like losing that follower and wanted to understand what had happened. I went over it in my head for a bit, thinking what could it possibly be that had offended him so.
And the answer is actually quite simple, and it has nothing to do with me having done or said anything wrong: You simply cannot please everyone. Sharing your thoughts, your opinions, and your advice means that some won’t resonate with it. When you put yourself out there and honestly and unapologetically start sharing who you are, what you think, and the process of growth you’re undergoing, some will like it and some will not. And that’s okay. It’s a blessing, in fact. By losing the people who are not meant to accompany in your journey, you have more space to receive those who are.
Since launching Simple Men 2.0 my posts have received more negativity than ever before. When my page was just vanilla, secular, red-pill masculinity posts, nobody really cared enough to comment. But when I made Christianity a central point of my online presence, I started losing followers like crazy.
Some didn’t like me to talk about it at all. Some said I was wrong about what I was sharing. Some said my message of strength and courage is unchristian. There are many reasons why some choose to stop following this project. At first, it stung a bit. I had worked hard to build my audience. It wasn’t that cool to lose it. But after a while, I realized this was the first time ever where I had been 100% genuine with my content. It was the first time I was sharing my most honest thoughts, the good, the bad, and everything in between. Of course that also means sometimes I will post stuff that people don’t like. I even post stuff I don’t even like after a few months. It’s all part of this permanent growth process. I don’t claim to know all the answers or to have life and faith figured out. I say that consistently. I am just as much of a flawed human as the next guy.
Someone will always disagree with something you say. You won't ever find someone that thinks the exact same things as you regarding every possible topic. So the lesson I learned was that instead of trying to please everyone, and walking on eggshells to avoid offending people, you should just do and say what you think it's right, without caring about pleasing everyone. You should do so with purity of intention, by commending your words to the Holy Spirit and asking God for wisdom at all times. But you need to realize there will always be some who won’t resonate with your message. Why? Because someone will always be offended. You can't please everyone.
And you shouldn't try to.
Be genuine, be honest, do your thing, and the right people will come.
Wishing you a blessed rest of the week and God bless you!
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love my book.
Continue with your work! Your content is extremely important in our times and I'm sure God is helping many people through you, myself included. Pax et bonum brother!